Here We Go! Rampage Schedule Out

I can feel it. Yep, the hi temp was only mid-90’s today. Hockey must be right around the corner in San Antonio.

Seems a tad tardy this season, but the AHL finally released its 2013-14 schedule today and the Rampage will begin their 12th season in the AT&T Center Friday, Oct. 4 vs the Chicago Wolves. Kinda weird, but three of the first four games of the season, two in Allstate Arena, will be against Chicago. And the Rampage will be done with the Wolves in December.

But there are some interesting tidbits about this season’s slate. The annual February Rodeo Roadie will be 10-games long. It usually includes the Rampage stops in the eastern AHL netherlands. They’ll have two games in Toronto and their only visit to the Calder Cup Champion Grand Rapids Griffins on that trip with additional stops in Hamilton (twice), Rochester, Lake Erie (twice) and a first ever touch-down in Utica against the new Comets — used to be the Peoria Rivermen, who have joined the Southern Professional Hockey League when St. Louis pulled its affiliation…good lord, to go from watching future members of the Blues to welcoming the Huntsville Havoc and those pesky Fayetteville Fire Ants to town.

Back to the schedule — November and March are the busiest with 13 games each. The team will enjoy mostly weekend and Sunday afternoon games. With the AHL adopting a 76 game season a couple of years ago, some early week games have been lopped off, which is good for travel and avoiding massively empty arenas. Thirty of the 38 home games will be played on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday this season.

With the Houston Aeros out of the league and living in Des Moines as the Iowa Wild, the Rampage will play 12 games each with the Texas Stars and Oklahoma City Barons. Since the Rampage usually bus to OKC, that will lead to a ton of bonding time. None of their six-game set with the Barons will be in pairs. Even in the Iguanas-Blazer days, I can’t recall many years of six, eight-hour road trips, so that will be a challenge for the club and players used to the comforts of air travel or quick trips around New England.

A nice eight-game homestand in January could be the trick to get the team on a playoff roll. That’s the longest home stretch since 2007-08, one of three playoff seasons for the franchise.

Another nice home stretch is the end of the season, where the Rampage host nine of the last 10 games of the season.

Overall, a workable schedule for both the team and the front office, who will once again feature dollar beer and soft drink night on Friday night games, and Pink in the Rink night will be Jan. 31 against Toronto. The Sunday games will be Express-News “Sunday Funday” games where fans can get a pre-game skate in addition to some food for only $14. For the rare weekday games, fans can plop down 20-bucks and enjoy all you can eat food and a ticket to the game. Loosen your belt and enjoy some hockey this season as the Rampage try and outdo last season’s team record attendance mark.

What about the team?

Last season of course, the Rampage ran out of gas since most of the San Antonio players were busy skating with the NHL parent Florida Panthers after the major league’s shortened season turned into a nightmare for the Panthers with injuries galore.

This season, some of those players who saw extensive NHL time before their formative bones could find their footing, may be back to start the season here. Quinton Howden comes to mind. The speedy first round pick three years ago went scoreless in Sunrise in 18 games. He did impress and had his chances, but a little more seasoning in San Antonio could be in order. Last season was Howden’s rookie year coming out of Moose Jaw and Junior hockey, so another season in the AHL isn’t unexpected.

Drew Shore was the most successful Rampage import in Florida and it will be interesting to see Drew’s status with the organization. He did score three goals with 10 assists in 43 games to place seventh on the team in scoring. Shore even centered the line with Jonathan Huberdeau, the NHL Rookie of the Year and Peter Mueller. But this could be a Kyle Turris/Mikkel Boedker situation where two young rookies played in a level over their head and return to Triple-A. In the case of Turris and Boedker, the Phoenix tandem who spent their first pro year in the NHL, it took awhile for them to mentally adjust to being sent down. But once it clicked for them, they became all-star caliber AHL players.

You couldn’t find many faster AHL players than those two guys. Turris is now blossoming in Ottawa with 29 points in 48 games and six playoff goals in 10 contests with the Senators. Boedker showed flashes with two-goal playoff games with the Yotes two years ago, and scored 21 goals in 29 games in Finland’s top league waiting for the lockout to end.

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom is a gonner — he showed he’s NHL caliber right now last season. Still needs to work on consistency issues like he showed here in two years, but just watching him you can tell he’s gonna be a good one.

So the Rampage will have Dov Grumet-Morris as their netminder, and that’s a good thing. With some more offense in front of him, DGM has been more than reliable in the pipes despite posting his highest GAA as a pro last season at 3.24. The Panthers like the guy and here’s hoping he gets an NHL shot should Markstrom or Scott Clemmensen have injury issues. With Jose Theodore about to sign in Boston to backup Tuuka Rask with Anton Khudobin off to Carolina, the door is wide open should the call come for Florida for Dov, a lifetime AHL netminder who deserves an NHL shot.

Greg Rallo had 10 games in Florida last season and scored his first NHL goal. Eric Selleck picked up his first NHL point in two games, along with his first NHL suspension. Both players should be back in Silver and Black this season. Rallo led the Rampage with 23 goals in his second season in San Antonio last year, while Selleck’s 181 penalty minutes was tops on the team. Selleck has been weirdly consistent in his AHL career with five goals in each of his three seasons, including identical 5-11-16 stats for his rookie year with Rochester and last year here.

More on the team ahead as training camp is just a month away, as well as the NHL pre-season game between the Panthers and Dallas Stars on Sept. 20.